Every citizen of India today understands the value of education, whether for individual welfare or national progress as a whole. Surprisingly, this idea of education seems restricted to urban areas only. If we assume this to be true, it raises an uncomfortable doubt. Is our entire education system only meant for those who can pay for this education?
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| Is education only for the wealthy? |
The dismissive attitude of people today towards the issue of rural education is not too difficult to notice. The inability of our education system to provide quality education in rural areas is conveniently labeled as a failure on the part of the government. People seem to be much more enthusiastic when the same topic of education is mentioned in the context of a city, as is clear from the widespread activism for urban educational reforms, whether at the school level or for higher education.
Does the attitude of the people on the same issue changes when it is raised for the weaker section of the society?
Education is supposed to, apart from other things, enhance the worldview of people and make them realize their aptitudes and talents, academic or otherwise. Sadly, education in India today appears more like a transaction. Pay the fees, get a degree, earn through that degree– those seem to be steps that a person takes when he or she goes to college. People in the rural areas are bound to be at a disadvantage, they do not qualify the first step.
This commercial attitude reduces education to a commodity, and a very high priced commodity at that. In the middle of it all we totally forget the welfare of our children; children with real aspirations and real hopes. Their only fault, if it may be called a fault at all, is that they may not have enough money to polish their talents. People, somehow, seem completely oblivious to this. Is it because those children are too far away for us to care about them? Is that logical, or simply insensitive? The answer seems more disappointing than the issue itself, considering that we call ourselves a democracy.
— Srijan Upadhyay
Does the attitude of the people on the same issue changes when it is raised for the weaker section of the society?
Education is supposed to, apart from other things, enhance the worldview of people and make them realize their aptitudes and talents, academic or otherwise. Sadly, education in India today appears more like a transaction. Pay the fees, get a degree, earn through that degree– those seem to be steps that a person takes when he or she goes to college. People in the rural areas are bound to be at a disadvantage, they do not qualify the first step.
This commercial attitude reduces education to a commodity, and a very high priced commodity at that. In the middle of it all we totally forget the welfare of our children; children with real aspirations and real hopes. Their only fault, if it may be called a fault at all, is that they may not have enough money to polish their talents. People, somehow, seem completely oblivious to this. Is it because those children are too far away for us to care about them? Is that logical, or simply insensitive? The answer seems more disappointing than the issue itself, considering that we call ourselves a democracy.
— Srijan Upadhyay
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